


worn by the war in me

by hellofromlesbistan



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5098202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellofromlesbistan/pseuds/hellofromlesbistan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sits there on the couch, by herself, and keeps thinking about how fine she totally is, right up until the corners of her vision start to get a little dark and she realizes she might, possibly, maybe, be more worried than she thought. </p><p>(Karen, waiting up for Matt. Established relationship. Foggy is everyone's best friend.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	worn by the war in me

**Author's Note:**

> somebody found me here  
> somebody held my breath  
> somebody saved me from the world you left
> 
> (thank you to alanabloom and 1nkblots for being the best betas)

Matt kisses Karen soundly as he perches on the windowpane in his Daredevil getup - it’s not _goodbye,_ she tells him every night - he smiles and promises _see you later_ instead before hopping out the window and skipping across fire escapes _._

 

The lease on what they’d not-so-affectionately dubbed “the murder apartment” ended two months after she and Matt had (finally) started dating, so she’d moved in with him and has been giving _see-you-later-_ kisses for three months now. She trusts him completely and would truly hate it if he stopped protecting the city they both love, but that doesn’t mean that the nights he’s out get any easier.

 

Karen usually spends the first half hour walking slowly through the apartment, trying to keep the _see-you-later_ smile pinned to her face as she tidies up, dusts a little, does the dishes. Depending on the level of horror in his reports lately or the number of injuries she’d cataloged on him the night before, she can relax a little after that. The alternative is she’ll turn on the tv and ignore the show as she picks out all the seams from the throw pillows, or picks all the split ends from her hair, or sometimes catches up on work from the office and startles awake every five minutes with papers stuck to her cheek. 

 

But things have been good lately, great even, compared to what Daredevil has come up against in the past. She was fine last night, and three nights before that, last week too…by all accounts, she should be fine tonight. She sits there on the couch, by herself, and keeps thinking about how fine she totally is, right up until the corners of her vision start to get a little dark and she realizes she might, possibly, maybe, be more worried than she thought. 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_…Feel like this is the beginning, though I've loved you for a million years, and if I thought our love was ending…_

 

Foggy answers his phone with a bright grin, since it’s too early for a “Matt is seriously wounded, get over here and help me and Claire attempt to save his sorry, stubborn ass” call, and because that picture of Karen literally never gets less adorable.

 

“Good evening, sunshine of my life. What gloriously terrible trash tv have you called to alert me of tonight?”

 

He hears a squeak, and something like…sawing? What the fuck?

 

“ _Karen?”_

 

“I-“ _gasp, “_ Fog, I can’t-“ Not sawing then. Just breathing much, much faster than anybody’s lungs have any right to breathe.

 

“Hey, are you hurt? _Karen,_ are you _hurt?”_

 

 _“_ ** _No_** , but I- need y’…Fog….” 

 

“Alright, alright alright hang on, I’m gonna be right there, do you want me to stay on the phone?” 

 

There’s another vague squeak before the line goes dead. He takes a deep breath, then pockets his phone, keys, wallet - he runs around grabbing other things as fast as he can, there’s a paper lunchbag, a bottle of water, that micro-plush blanket he got from his grandma for christmas ten years ago that Matt will never admit to absolutely loving….Foggy has a habit of keeping these things closesince college, when he found out his best friend liked to angst himself into oblivion. Apparently his best friend found a perfect match. 

 

Foggy makes it to their apartment in record time, thanking the heavens for his spare key while trying and failing to be calm and collected. She’d said she was fine, kind of, so she must be, right? Why would she lie? Unless she couldn’t help it? What if Matt’s- 

 

But there she is, safe and sound on the sofa. (His “safe and sound” spectrum has been altered dramatically since the whole Daredevil reveal, and apparently expanded to include “hands trying to pull all the hair out of her head while she shakes like she might actually, literally, for real crumble into teeny tiny pieces.” She’s not bleeding, so he counts it as a win.)

 

“Hey kiddo, hey, I’m here….what’s wrong?”

 

Karen looks up with a gasp, startled and reaching for him like some kind of tiny, clingy, terrified octopus. He’ll think it’s cute as hell later when he’s not busy being scared that something terrible has happened. He sits down and gathers her up, squashing her between him and the end of the couch. She buries her face in his neck immediately and then _holy shit,_ maybe tries to _implode,_ what the _hell, Karen…_

 

“ _Whoa_ , hey, look, I brought you this fancy, high-tech paper bag here to maybe stop your lungs from bursting, how about we try breathing into that instead of my gross neck, huh bud?”

 

When Karen’s breathing eventually slows to sound slightly less _horrifically painful_ , he guides the bag away from her face and helps her sit up a little straighter against his sideWrapping a palm around her forehead, he coaxes her to lean back on his shoulder, then leaves his hand there as he sways nervously. Foggy remembers so vividly in this moment, the look Karen had in her eyes that night in Elena Cardenas’ apartment when she’d asked him to touch her face. She’d seemed almost desperate, completely unconcerned about how weird or awkward the request was - it was like somebody who hadn’t been touched and felt _safe_ about it for maybe as long as she could remember. He holds her tighter yet, wills _safe_ and _calm_ into her with everything he’s got.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Everything’s sore, every muscle in her body aches, she goes from hot to cold to hot again every minute or so, and the more she thinks about all of that, the more worried she gets about how worried she’s been. Her discomfort and fear keep circling in on themselves and she’d almost certainly lose control of it all over again if not for Foggy’s thumb stroking at the crown of her head and his soft voice in her ear. 

 

“Can we lay down, Foggy? I don’t…feel great.”

 

“Really, K? Damn, this is brand new information! Come here, you dork.”

 

She leans back against his chest so he can wrap his arms around hers and hold her hands. It’s easier for her to talk about her weird, irrational, overwhelming feelings when she’s not looking at him and has his fingers to play with. She explains how she tries so hard to stay calm when Matt leaves but sometimes it just doesn’t work, but the more he hears the more Foggy thinks she doesn’t have to explain anything at all. He knows those feelings better than anyone else. 

 

“You wanna know a secret?” 

 

“Yes, Miss Page, I would actually prefer to know _all_ the secrets, I have had quite enough of secrets with you two, I’m going gray, I swear, and it is _not_ a good look on me…”

 

“Foggy! Stop, it’s not…it’s not a bad one.”

 

“Well then, out with it.”

 

“…’m pregnant, Fog. That’s why I…god, usually I’d drink if I got this freaked out. I’m so fucking happy about it but I’m scared out of my mind. How do you sleep at night when Daredevil is your kid’s dad? What if he doesn’t come home, you know? All the things that could go wrong…it’s eatin’ me up inside.”

 

Foggy can’t bring himself worry about any of that right now, though. He feels like his face might actually break with the grin he’s wearing. So he decides to distract her from it now - by swearing and crying and kissing her all over until she’s almost hyperventilating again from laughing so hard. 

 

“It’s gonna be _great,_ okay? You won’t ever be alone, I promise.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Karen falls asleep against Foggy’s chest pretty quick, but he stays awake watching tv until Matt comes crawling through the window. Matt tilts his head in that puppy way he does when he’s not sure why he’s sensing the things he is, and asks Foggy’s name as if it would be anyone else wrapped around Karen like they’re her teddy bear. (Confirmed: it will always be weird to hear him say things in his _scared, abandoned orphan_ voice while he’s wearing his _scare the ever-loving shit out of the criminal underworld_ Daredevil costume.) 

 

Foggy tries to keep a smile in his words, since he’s pretty sure Matt can hear Foggy’s exhausted heartbeat and smell Karen’s tears and stress on her, still.

 

“Hiya Matty. Come over here, would you?”

 

Matt pulls off the cowl as he crosses the room to sit on the coffee table and attempt eye contact with his best friend. 

 

“Are you guys…okay?”

 

“Yeah, buddy, we’re peachy. You good?”

 

“I’m…yeah, I’m good, Fog. What’s going on?”

 

Foggy sighs deeply, trying to will some relaxation into all three of them. 

 

“She’s okay, Matt. Just kind of lost control of her nerves tonight, and it spiraled a little. She was able to call me though. Kicked it in the ass. That’s our girl, huh?”

 

Matt lets out a watery laugh at that, head bowing with that old familiar guilt. Foggy reaches out, cups his hand around his friend’s neck and whispers like every criminal in all of New York has ears on this one apartment.

 

“ _I heard you’re gonna be a_ ** _dad_** _, Matty.”_

 

Foggy can’t tell if it’s a laugh or a sob that escapes Matt then, so he pulls Matt over until he’s kneeling by the couch and smashes their foreheads together, both of them smiling bright enough to light up the whole block. He kisses Matt’s temple while Matt’s kissing Karen’s forehead to wake her up - it’s all awkward and sleepy and funny and stupid and perfect. Karen turns into a tiny, clingy, exhausted little octopus when she realizes Matt’s home and he scoops her up from Foggy’s lap and puts her in bed. 

 

They get up and have breakfast together in the morning. All three-and-a-half of them.

 


End file.
